Grain door



E. C. SHORT A March 18 16am; Doon Filedfna'c. 4, 1922 Y Patented lidar. i8, 1924.

1,482,278 PATENT oFFlcn.

@GAR CLARK SHORT, OF ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

GRAIN DOOR.

Application led December 4, w22. Serial No. 604,817.

To @ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that l, EDGAR CLARK SHORT, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and State of Minnesota, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Grain Doors, o which the following is a "full, clear, and exact description. l

My invention relates to improvements in grain doors, and it consists in the combina` tions, constructions, and arrangements herein described andy claimed.`

The ordinary type of grain door consistsl of a number of boards nailed toeach other so as to provide a door approximately two feet high. Three of these doors are used in the ordinary freight car and are nailed to the door rameon the inside of the car. When unloading a car having this type of door, the first operation is to remove the bottom doorfto permit the grain to How out. After the grain pressure `is removed from behind these doors, all `of the `doors are -knocked o". The bottom door or lower section in the completed `door is so securely fastened to the freight car that often the door is ruined by the prying tool which removes the door yfrom the car. The door then has to be discarded or repaired before it can be used again lt is obvious that the damageto these bottom doors becomes a formidable item of expense.

rllhe principal object of my invention is to provide a door which may be removed readily and without damage to the door.

A further object ofmy invention isto provide a door of the type described which does'not have to be reassembled when used again.

A' further object of my invention 1s to provide a device of the type `described which may be readily applied to railroad cars without any alterations being necessary in the latter. t

A further object or my invention is to provide a device of the type described which is extensible, whereby it vcan be adjusted to fit doors ot various sizes.

A further object of my invention .is to provide a device of the type described inY which the door is more tirmly locked in pla/ce when a greater weight is applied thereto, yin other words, the, Ygreater the weight of ythe grain within the car, the more firmly the door is locked in place.

A. further object of my invention is to provide a device of the type described in which all of the fastening means Lare accessible from the exterior of the car.

A further object of my invention is to provide a device of the type described which is simple in construction, durable and efficientL for the purpose'intended, and which is not likely easily to get out of order.

. Other objects andy advantages will appear in the :following specification, and the novel features of the invention will be particularly pointed out in the appendedclaims.

My invention is illustrated inthe accom panying drawings forming part of this application, in which Figure l is aside elevation of the exterior side of the door, y Figure 2 is a top plan View of Figure 1, Figure 3 is a side elevation looking at the interior side of the door,l I, f

Figure l is a perspective view showing the door in opened position, y

Figure 5 isa section along the line 5--5 o'Figure l and Figure 6 is a section along the line 6-6 of Figure 2. t

In ycarrying out my invention I `provide an `outer frame A and an inner frame B. It will be noted from Figure 3 lthat the frame A is secured tothe frame B by hinges 1, these hinges being secured'to the frame B and being secured to `blocks 2 which in The frame B has slots 4 therein in which ,the bolts 3 kareyslidably disposed. It will therefore be apparent from this construction that the frame A may be moved with respect to the frame B and then locked in place by bolts 3, whereby the `door maybe lengthened or shortened so as to fit the freight carV door to vwhich it is applied. In Figure 1 I have showny the door in its ex tended position. y, l

The frames A and -B are provided with vertically extending cleats 5 which are adapted to abut the vertically extending posts 6 of the door frame. yTheportions of the .frames and B whichxextendbeyond the cleats 5 arek adapted to engage with the inner side of the posts 6. Thel frames A and B are removably locked together by means of` a pin7 which is adapted to Lenter an eyelet 8. The eyelet 8 is carried by the frame B and is received within-a lslot 9 when the chain 10 Vwhich is secured to the frame A.

In Figure 3 I have shown the frame B as being provided with a hinged board 11, this board being secured toV the frame B by means of hinges 12. In some of the freight cars the sill is provided with a plate 13, (see Figure 6,) which, has a hump 14C positioned approximately in the middle of the plate. When thedoor is in closed position,

f the hinged board 11 is adapted to abut the hump le. The board 11 is loclred to the frame A by means of a pin 15. The pin 15 is adapted to enter the slot 16 in the frame when the frames A and B are brought into engagement with each other. An actuating handle 17 of the pin 15 is lat, and when swung into a horizontal position, is adapted to move through the slot 16 but when swung through an angle of'90 degrees is not adapted to move through the slot 16. In seouring the board 11 to the frame A, the handle 17 is swung into a horizontal position and then moved through the slot 16, whereupon the handle is swung through an arc of 90 degrees, which will look the in to the frame A and thus prevent the oard 11 from swinging away from the frame A. The frame A has a slot 18 in the bottom edge thereof which is adapted to receive the hump 14 of the sill plate 13.

From the foregoing description of the various parts of the device, the operation thereof may be readily understood. In assembling the door to a freight car, the frames A and B are moved with respect to each other soV as to extend the door to the `desired length. The frames Aiand B are tioned behind the door posts 6, orvin other words, the door is placed in the interior of the car. TheV twoV frames A and'B are now swung into abutting engagement with each other. This movement causes the cleats 5 tok engage with'the posts 6. The tightened bolts prevent the movement of the frames A and B with respect to each other during this operation. It will be seen' from this construction that agreat lateral pressure will be exerted by the cleats 5 against the posts 6, whereby the door is firmly held in closed position. The grain on the interior of the car bears against the frame B Aand tends to move the frame outwardly about the hinges 1. This movement is prevented by the pin 7 which is inserted in the eyelet 8, the eyelet in turn being carried by the frame B. l

The bolts 3 are disposedin vertical slots 19 in the members 2. This construction permits theframe B to be moved downwardlyy with respect to the frame A. When'the door is to be used von a car havin sill plates, the frame B is set a quarter o an inch lower than the frame A. The grain door is then wedged into position as heretofore stated and then forced down the necessary quarter of an inch so that the rear section, i. e., section B, rests on the floor and behind the sill plate. rThe board 11 is swung into abutn ting engagement with the frame A. The operator can now turn the handle 17 so as to lock the board 11 in position. The entire under edge of the frames A and B engages with the sill plate 13 so as to prevent any leakage of grain beneath the door. The door is fastened in position by means of hooks 20. The hooks 2O have a hoolr portion 21 which is adapted to engage with the edge of the vertical door plates 22, whereby the door is prevented from moving inwardly. In case the plates 22 are not provided in the car, the spike portion 23 of the hook 2O is driven into the posts 6. In`

this `manner the door is securely held in closed position by means of the hooks 20.

In removing the door from the freight oar the hooks 20 are first removed from the posts 6 and then the pin 15 is turned and the pin '1' is removed from the eyelet 8,

whereby the weight of the grainwithin the car will force theV door into the position shown in Figure e. vThe door may now be readily removed so as to permit the grain to flow from the car. It is obvious that the doors have not been damaged in the slightest degree. The door does not have to be pried open as is the case with the ordinary freight car doors. The device is very simple in construction and is durable and ecient for the purpose intended. As heretofore described, the device is adapted for universal use, since it can be applied to any type of I claim: Y

' 1. A grain door comprising two normally overlapping sections, hinges for positively connecting the end of one of said sections with the other section, means for shifting the hinged'connection so as to adjust the, effective length of the overlapped sections to iticar door frames Yof vdifferent sizes, and

, rigidly securing said slidable member-in adjusted position, a hinge positively connecting said slidable member with the other section, and means .for locking the sections in parallelism in any of the adjusted positions.

3. Adoor comprising two sections hinged together, said sections being adjustably secured to each other so as to permit a door to fit door frames of various sized openings, a hinged board carried by one of said secfreight car which has doors of various sizes.

tions and bein adapted to drop behind a hump in the slll plate of the door frame, the other section having a recess in its lower edge adapted to receive the hump.

4c. A oor comprising two sections adjustably hinged together, whereby said door can be lengthened to t various sized door frames, said sections overlapping each other when in closed osition, means for remov- `f ably locking sai sections together, a hinged lower board carried by one section, the otheI` section having a recess therein adapted to align with said board, and means ior fastening said door to the door frame.

5. A door comprising two sections adjustably hinged together7 whereby said door can be lengthened to fit various sized door frames, said sections overlapping each other when in closed position, means for remov ably locking said sections together, a hinged lower board carried by one section, the other section having a recess therein adapted to align with said board, means for :fastening said door to the door frame, said locking and fastening means being disposed on the outer side of said door, whereby the door can be readily locked and `unlocked Jfrom the outside of the car to which the door is attached.

` EDGAR CLARK SHORT; 

